Sinus cavity open after extractions
 

My boyfriend poor guy has been going thru pure hell now since November 23rd when he had 10 teeth extracted. Went back for his follow up and the stitches had fallen out she restitched, he went back again a week later again a couple stitches came out so she restitched him again. Then those fell out the next day the dentist referred him to an oral surgeon. The oral surgeon could see without asking what the prob was just by looking at the xrays and said the roots were so big they were in the sinus cavity and the dentist should have not pulled them and should have referred him before. The oral surgeon has now performed a second surgery which was more aggressive and that was Thursday it was back open by Saturday and he is livid and mentally drained. He's to the point of sueing. Not sure what to do at this point. Its really hard to see ur loved one going thru this when you cant help him at all. Its just not fair. He's trying so hard! He needs advice as to what to do.
thanx.....:mad::(

Hi Tired71,

I am in the dental field and will try to help as much as I can.

It always concerns me when a general dentist takes on a case that they may not be equipped to handle. Sometimes they are resistant to do it but the patient insists they will not go elsewhere for the surgery so the dentist feels obligated to do it. Other times the dentist's ego gets in the way and they know soon after they've started, they probably shouldn't have.

I always encourage people to see an oral surgeon for multiple and/or difficult extractions. General dentists are educated and do have some clinical experience in school on how to remove teeth. However, most of the time unless they have taken additional studies in oral surgery and have had some sort of residency experience in oral surgery... they are not knowledgeable enough to handle the complications that can occur or skilled enough to perform these types of extractions. However, unless he develops some major infection and/or permanent dental problem as a result of what she did, he probably doesn't have a case to sue her.

Suturing extraction sites closed can be difficult for a few reasons. There may not be enough (healthy) tissue to close over due to recession, bone loss, and/or gum disease. So even the best surgeon can sometimes not get more than just primary closure which is basically placing stitches in as much tissue as possible, but these sutures tend to come out fairly easily. Generally sutures can fall out (early) on their own so long as the surgical areas have not been grafted with bone or have not had a collagen membrane placed to close a sinus perforation.

The second surgery that he had is going to take time to heal especially if the surgeon went into the sinus area. It is imperative that he not smoke or drink alcohol as both of these things will prevent the sites from healing and he will be in pain for a long time. It is also imperative that he not rinse with any mouthwash other than plain salt water and a prescription written by the dentist. No over the counter mouthwash should be used because the chemicals and alcohol will prevent healing. He should be keeping all of the rest of his teeth clean and flossed to reduce the amount of plaque that will build up and cause bacterial infection. He needs to eat a nutritious soft food
diet and drink only water throughout the day. NO sugary drinks, fruit juices or soda as these will slow down the healing process.

I hope this information is helpful.... let us know if he has further concerns.

Bryanna